Patrick R. Penland

Hosteled Prodigal: Beyond Laundered Morality Patrick R. Penland

The narrative of Hosteled Prodigal is set in a millenial one-world environment governed by the United Federation of North American States (UFNAS, or "yoofnas," as popularly pronounced). Little has turned out well for Bill Scolan, employed as a bawdy house promoter, when his PhD thesis is scuttled by a hedonistic faculty still imbued with an outmoded new age ideology. One day in near depression, nightmares-in-head are interrupted by an intruder. The bouncer-pimp breaking in announces the murder of the house madam and Bill's half-sister, estranged snuggle partner, Julie. The self-reproach and shame incurred by the incestuous affair, while it lasted, is deepened when the brute also delivers the mob's "pink slip" to Bill. In a chronic pity-party, Bill's mood spirals downward. Life-style resentment has been building ever since childhood when his immature advances to a gang of older children were always rebuffed. Relocated in a cheap apartment, Bill fends off girls on the make for a pimp guardian. Through Ann, Bill becomes reacquainted with Mary, the daughter of the surrogate mother whom the child Billy furtively used to visit. Restored to more sociably interpersonal relations, the influence of these two erstwhile female judges-in-his-head eventually outweighs Bill's malign inclinations towards warped guilt and remorse.